having it all, but Feeling deprived

early successes, he was showered with laurels, including a knighthood in 1975. Then, in 1972, he returned to hollywood triumphantly to receive a unique oscar for “the incalculable effect he had had in making motion pictures the art form of this century.” There is no part of the globe where he has not been appreciated, and his 80 films are still being shown continuously. Even his first comedies of the 1914-17 period are still exhibited commercially, not as museum pieces, but as modern entertainment—the only motion pictures of that period still to be so exhibited. it is estimated that 300 million people have seen each Chaplin comedy. he had “brought more joy and laughter to more people than anyone who ever lived.” however, in his old age, he stopped smiling, for as his age increased, so did his infirmities. his sight, speech and hearing began to fall. he started using a wheelchair. While the Chaplin of the screen continued to be an object of entertainment to cinema audiences, the real Chaplin lay in bed, unable to work any longer. he died a few hours before his family’s traditional Christmas celebration began. one of Chaplin’s biographers, dennis Gifford wrote, ‘‘While he was working, he created something more than mere films; he created life as he wanted it to be. life with laughter and love, dreams, and hope, but where there was always a happy ending if nothing more than a walk down the road to tomorrow.” (reader’s digest, Jun 1978) another commentator, writing after Chaplin’s death, said, “Chaplin’s life has been filled with what most lives consist